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"Word on the street is Osi Umenyiora is asking for more than the Dolphins are willing to pay right now. Market for DE is $5M & he wants more," Kelly tweeted.

In addition to the Dolphins and Falcons, the Detroit Lions have also been reported to have interest in Umenyiora. But the one thing all three teams have in common is that they're not going to pay more than market value for a 31-year-old defensive end who has been deemed by many to be nothing more than a "situational pass rusher" at this stage of his career.

There had been some thought that if Umenyiora was unable to find a deal elsewhere that he and the Giants may reunite, but with him seeking more than $5 million annually, it all but eliminates a possible return. Although they have some minor cap room left, General Manager Jerry Reese & Co. are in no position to pay Chief Osi even half of what he wants.

At this point it would appear as if the Falcons are Umenyiora's best bet, but he's going to have to come down on his price or risk the defensive end market completely drying up.

kujo says: March 22, 2013 at 8:02 AM I was talking to my dad about this last night, and I gotta say–nice as it is that Diehl, Eli and others have expressed a willingness to restructure their contracts so that the team can sign Cruz, I’m not interested in them doing it. What, are we gonna free up another $10 mil and just give it all to Cruz, ostensibly caving in to the high contract demands his previous agent had? I don’t know what they’ve offered him, but I’d bet that it was in the $7-8 mil neighborhood, which is a) what they can afford, and more importantly b) what they believe he’s worth. If they really needed more money to give him, they probably would’ve done these restructures/paycuts/extensions weeks and months ago. I love Cruz as much, or more, as the next guy, but to cave in now, with the specific purpose of giving Cruz more money, would be tantamount to waving the white flag and surrendering to public demand, setting a dangerous precedent for guys like Nicks, JPP, Wilson and future fan-favorites.

It’s great to hear Eli and Diehl being classy and offering to make things work, but I imagine that Reese already knew they’d say yes, and yet still hasn’t asked because he’s not going to be strong-armed.

Urlacher can actually still play, surprising. true his best days are long gone, but he is still the instinctive football ball player he always was, and has some tread left on the tire. Unfortunately, I see all Bears games.

But, he’s going to want 3.5M and we’d be better off with what we have than Urlacher at that number.

To me the big news from yesterday was the 40 that Jarvis Jones ran. He ran between a 4.85 and 4.9 that coupled with his medical report makes me think now there’s a 50-50 chance he’s around at our pick. He would be an interesting pick because SLB isn’t as valuable as MLB but there are many that thought before the predraft process that Jones was clearly a top 5 player in this draft. Could we really pass on Jones at a position that needs more talent and impact players? He also serves as someone that can be another pass rusher on 3rd downs. I think Jones is a player we know really have to examine.

I’ll echo everyone else’s sentiments: no thanks to Urlacher. As the article on BigBlueView points out, there is a reason why the Bears chose not to bring the guy back.

Had this been three or four years ago, I might think differently, but not anymore. I don’t want a broken down LB having to chase Griffin around. Against the Redskins’ offense, you need young, fresh legs at LB, and Urlacher certainly doesn’t fit that mold.

Does Urlacher, at this stage of his career, offer more to the Giants than the 27-year-old Connor? I don’t think so, especially not against the run. The constant theme coming from the Giants is they have to be better against the run. In 12 games last season Urlacher graded at -13.6 vs. the run according to Pro Football Focus, a drop of more than 17 points from the +4.1 he scored in 2011.

Discounting 2012, when he was mis-cast in the Dallas Cowboys’ 3-4 defense, Connor has proven to be an excellent run defender. With the Carolina Panthers in 2010 and 2011 he scored +8.9 and +3.2 against the run.

Urlacher was still a plus pass defender (+6.7) in 2012, according to PFF, but he no longer appears to be a physical presence against the run on the inside. If you are only playing two linebackers in passing situations, which is pretty much standard now, a middle linebacker who can’t stop the run is no help.

Urlacher’s pass defense seemed to be questioned by the new Chicago coaching staff despite the positive PFF score, according to a post from SB Nation’s Windy City Gridiron.